So September
There is a lot to catch you up on around here! Great food, hard work, and some small accomplishments that all add up to a safer and better winter here on the farm.
We’ve been preparing best we can. There is just under 2 cords of wood here and around 50 bales of hay in the barn. We have another 100 stacked at Livingston Brook farm in the large Threshing Barn for later in the winter. We need another hundred bales in the next month and another cord or two, but at least but the numbers are adding up slowly and it feels really good. To have what we have on standby and the wood stacked and covered for winter- that's a sigh in tangible form. It’s not enough but it’s something and if a cold spell ripped through the valley we would be warm and all the animals would have their meals covered.
No sales were generated from that last post to my knowledge, but I remain optimistic! And I’m still in the process of applying and interviewing for steady work with the skillset I have - which is writing, illustration, and design. I’ve been applying since July to remote copywriting gigs I can do from the farm. Right now I'm waiting to hear back from two that are promising I already submitted sample pieces to. Hopefully I will land one! I’m eager to be less dependent on sales solely from the farm. When it was just me here it’s one thing to play it fast and loose. But now with a partner and plans to start saving, repairing, and preparing farther ahead for the seasons and my own life - a better job is necessary until I can write a book worth the time it takes to read.
So I am working on that, and the farm is working better than ever. The most pressing repair this week was to fencing in the mountainside pasture. Merlin, our escape pony, has been leaving in the night to eat apples and grass at the neighbors. As of the last two nights he has remained in the paddock, thanks to re-stringing some electric wiring and new woven wire.
Apples are EVERYWHERE! We fill a 5 gallon bucket a couple times a week to serve the pigs snacks and did you know geese LOVE apples?! Ours bite right into them!
Egg production remains steady as the garden starts to putter out. Still a few late summer yellow squash but the Zuch seems to be kicked. We have already made a butternut soup and a killer pot pie with a "meaty" center made of butt nut and let me tell you - it was WONDERFUL.
Conversations are rising if we should sell the sheep or keep them. We aren't breeding them this fall and right now they are eating more money than they earn. It's up in the air at this point. Right now catching up, staying solvent, and starting to save money if at all possible is the goal.
I tuned up my recently re-strung fiddle and have been practicing in the woods so Shannon doesn't need to hear my squeaks and squawks as I remember all the old songs. I'll get Ashokan Farewell back, almost there!
I am 100% into Spooky Season. I can not recciment the Mike Flanagan shows on Netflix enough. Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass - do yourself a favor and watch one! Start with Hill House!
Okay, that's a wrap for September. It's been busy. Trapping season has started but no luck finding a bird. Maybe this weekend if my luck changes but today and all its cloudy glory is dedicated to catching up on desk work. I have some quick things to sell as bundles I will post one straight away - but besides the ongoing hustle, winter prep, and enough apple cake to choke an elk - things are pretty much mundane happiness. My favorite kind.